Aaron Packman knows a lot about water. From fluid flow to sediment dynamics and even microbial processes, his research is highly collaborative. Given his expertise, it perhaps should come as no surprise that Packman is the director of Northwestern University’s Center for Water Research in addition to his role as a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University. He is also a collaborator at the Institute for Sustainability and Energy at Northwestern’s (ISEN) Program on Plastics, Ecosystems, and Public Health.
The program is ISEN’s latest initiative, and it aims to not just address the challenges related to the global use and accumulation of plastics, but to deliver scalable solutions. Taking a multidisciplinary approach to plastics, the program focuses on three intersecting research areas: materials and product innovation; air, land and water ecosystem dynamics; and public health impacts. Packman’s research centers primarily around plastics in water ecosystems.
While Packman’s research for the past 25 years has focused on developing experimental methods and models to observe fine particle dynamics in waterways such as contaminated sediments, he is now using that knowledge to tackle a new threat to water—microplastics. Microplastics are small plastic pieces less than five millimeters long created by larger plastic debris breaking down over time.
“You are going to start seeing these particles everywhere,” he said. “There has been a lot of attention on those big, massive piles of plastics in the ocean, but microplastics are not as clear. We know animals and marine life eat them and they get everywhere, but no one really knows the true impact.”
“A lot of people recognize the plastic problem, but there have not been programs to pull together all the relevant people with the right expertise into one room. That is what ISEN is doing.” — Prof. Aaron Packman, Civil and Environmental Engineering and Director of the Center for Water Research
Since microplastics comprise a large portion of the challenge associated with plastic pollution, it is vital to determine where they are located and how they impact ecosystems. To help address this gap in knowledge, Packman is observing how microplastics move through waterways, where and how they are retained in these systems, and, eventually, their ecological effects. But this is no easy task. While the other types of fine particles he typically studies are relatively spherical, microplastics come in a wide variety of shapes, sizes, and compositions, making them extremely difficult to track.
“The second big issue is that there is no standard method to collecting data on them,” he said. A recent proposal of his, AQUA-PLAST, seeks to address this issue by collaborating with researches from Europe and Asia to develop consistent methods for data collection. Collaboration is also why he is excited to be a part of the Program at ISEN.
The issue of solving plastic waste is especially difficult since it requires communication across many different disciplines. Thus, the Program attempts to mediate this gap so those developing plastics can interact with those studying their ecological or public health impacts.
“A lot of people recognize the plastic problem, but there have not been programs to pull together all the relevant people with the right expertise into one room,” said Packman. “That is what ISEN is doing.”
Image credit: Florida Sea Grant
